How ill do your kids have to be before you keep them off?

[sockrage]

For transparency dd usually has 98.8 - 100% attendance.

This year she has 97. Something. She has had three days off poorly plus half a day lost mark when she left school an hour before the end of school but two minutes before the afternoon register was taken. (weird day set up and only one period after lunch)

She has an awful cough and is coughing all the time. Her nose is running badly and she is running a minor temp.

The last time I sent her in like this teachers made comments how ill she was and how her eyes were streaming and it made me feel like a crap mother.

She is feeling rotten but imo it is just a bad cold. If it was me I would proprably be in work.

I always kept mine off if they had a persistent cold, or it developed into chest infection or Asthma with ds2.
The usual sickness bugs or if they had a temperature that was more than slightly raised.
I would never have kept them off unnecessarily and couldn't give a shit about attendance percentages.

I generally just go on gut feeling, whether I think they could cope with being at school or not.

If they aren't at school, they will usually be ill enough to stay in bed, or at least to be lying quietly on the sofa under a blanket.

I always keep off for vomiting, or high temperature, or pain that has necessitated more than one consecutive dose of calpol.

Vickyyy that's bloody awful - my childminder and school both insist on the 48 hour rule for vomiting, but that aside, that poor little mite!

Our school don't reward for individual attendance targets, they have a big chart in assembly for the % for the whole school each week, and they've just started a house system, which includes a treat for the members of the house with the highest attendance each term. It works much better, imo, because it also encourages teamwork, and leaves more room for genuine, authorised absences.

So sick of all the morns who think they are somehow being virtuous when they send their kids to school with 'just a bad cold'.
Firstly they infect the other kids and quite possibly the teacher as well so then the whole class misses several days education whilst they areeing babysat by a cover supervisor or TA
Then the poorly child either feels fractious and is disruptive, or turns to the teacher for solace in his/her misery taking time away from the rest of the class

morons not morns!!

@liska I know its terrible. Some mothers really do not give a shit. Besides your child being at school when they should be looked after 1 to 1 really with bad stomach bugs, the kid may get picked on for being sick infront of others (this happened to someone at my junior school...and it carried on into seniors) and its just damn lazy to expect the teachers to deal with your sick kid because you can't be bothered too. And then there is the issue of infecting everyone else.

I was contacted regarding DDs time off when that happened. As I ended up keeping her off for the full week to be safe as I was sure others would have picked it up and as such it would just keep going and going. Sorry, I am not sending her somewhere where she has a high chance of becoming seriously ill. And its just nursery anyway. Though even if she had been in proper school I would probably have done the same thing.

That should be some 'parents' really don't give a shit. Typed mothers as it was the mother on that cocasion

I think if the cold id bad enough to make them feel really poorly then they should be at home, but you can't keep them off every time they catch a cold or they'd never be in.

I think you have to use your own judgement, sometimes kids can cope quite well with a cold and other times they can't.

KitKat
I'm not sure if you realise but the word you chose is not acceptable in this day and age.

You can feel pretty crap with a cold, so I'd let her have one day off if it's a bad one.

I used to go in with bad coughs as every winter Id have it lots, a sort of asthma, and got excluded from classes for bing too noisy! So other kids / teachers don't apprecite those with coughs going in so would keep them home if that bad

Is this the same DD as in your other thread? God yes, keep her off she needs her strength to deal with all the other shit.

Moron isn't acceptable? Why on earth not?
Train of thought totally derailed there... Mine stayed home with temperatures/ vomiting - and for DS earache needing regular alternate doses of Calpol and Nurofen throughout the day to control the pain.

I keep DD off with fever or d&v, but send her in with a mild cold. It depends how she seems really, she normally has a big appetite and is full of beans so if she is not eating and lethargic I would keep an eye on her. My rule of thumb is if I say she has to stay in bed all day with no TV and she still doesn't want to go in, I keep her at home (I do relent on the TV but it gives me an idea how she feels). She is generally fairly robust and had only had two days off school (y5).

I always use the 'can they eat breakfast?' rule of thumb. if breakfast is eaten - off they go to school. No breakfast - back to bed. As they're pretty good with breakfast that has proved to be an excellent indicator of illness.

I agree hun. If the school thinks they are to ill they will send them home

My little one is about to start nursery so I have this to come but going from my experience with my mum.... We went in regardless. Unless a hospital/ Dr said to stay off we went in. Coughs, colds etc...

Of course this resulted in me going to school with a broken wrist and my youngest sister being admitted with what turned out to be meningitis. In fairness to my mum, she felt awful about it but as a single mum with three kids she literally couldn't afford to be absent or lose one of her jobs. It was a choice of keeping one of us off with a slight cold or not paying the rent/feeding all of us.

Unfortunately a large proportion of parents literally can't afford to lose a days pay and/or pay a fine for absence. Also many employers don't take kindly to employee absence to care for sick children. Its a catch 22.

I agree that the attendance awards ..Esp a prize seem to make people send sick kids in and infect others...

Also reliant on school to send them home is not a great plan twice in 5 years my DS has come home ill at the end of day with a high temp..The first time I had to get him to the docs he had tonsillitis... Second time I had seen him at school ( he was on medication for something not related to this illness) I said if he doesn't improve send him home.. He had a temp of 39.6 by the time he got home and I am sure learnt nothing just infected people all afternoon.

Gut feeling for me too. I know instinctively when ds is too ill because he's the kind of child who will usually troop on regardless through coughs and colds. He is high energy so it's very noticeable when he's really ill - he'll just sit/ lie still, goes completely off his food and looks visibly pale and lethargic. When he was last 'off colour' I asked him directly what he thought about going to school and he said he wanted to go. He's been off sick for one day this year - goes downhill quickly but bounces back up quickly too. Dh and I have no qualms about taking time off to care for him if necessary.

Saw this yesterday, looked at snotty DD (5) and sent her in. This morning though, she just...looked all wrong. Less 'bright eyed and bushy tailed' and more 'something the cat took pity on.'
She smelt all wrong too. Not her usual biscuity-warm smell at all.

So...when she just seems too off, I guess. She's slept on me pretty much all day.

DM sent us in unless we were actively bleeding out or throwing up.

Ds is off today, stinking cold and an odd shade of green. He's slept most of the day as he was up in the night. Will probably go in tomorrow but definitely needed today off.

I keep mine home if they are ill. I used to work at a nursery and we'd get kids who were obviously ill but dosed up on Tylenol to keep their temps down. They'd just lie on a pillow or in our laps, miserable all day. It was the worst.

If it's just a little sniffle or cough I'll send them but otherwise I'd prefer they stay home. When mine have bad colds with lots of mucus I like to keep the humidifier going and flush out as much as I can. Otherwise the gunk builds up and they get ear and sinus infections.

I do have the rule that if they're sick they will stay in bed though. None of this "I'm too ill for school" and then up playing in an hour.

If she's running a temperature then she should be kept off school. It shows her body is fighting off something. All of her body's resources will be prioritising that task, so she is likely to be functioning below par in general and her energy resources will be lower.

Therefore, sending her to school will probably make her feel worse and prolong her recovery. She may also be less able to listen or perform well.

As she still has a temperature I presume she could also be infectious to others. I'd say best to keep her off. A day or two resting will help speed up her recovery.

Who has claimed 'moron' and nade a unilateral decision that the rest of the world are not allowed to use it- and what does Gordon say?